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61
The cowsheds vary: some of them are of modern and upto-date
construction. In the older ones, the alterations that
have been gradually effected have ensured that as far as
possible the milk produced therein shall be exposed to the
minimum amount of contamination. The inspection of all
the premises concerned in the milk production is zealously
carried out.
As pointed out in last year's report, the Council decided
to appoint a Veterinary Inspector under the powers vested in
them by the Finchley Urban District Council Act, 1908. Mr.
Overed, M.R.C.V.S., holds this appointment, and makes periodical
inspcctions of the dairy cows in the district. The Medical
Officer of Health accompanies the Veterinary Inspector on
most occasions. No case of Tuberculosis was discovered, nor
were Tubercle Baccilli found in any sample of milk examined.
The cow keeners have invariably given every facility for these
examinations, as it is recognised that milk consumers are becoming
more alive to the importance of pure milk, and unless
the undoubted anxiety on the point can be removed, the business
of the dairyman must certainly suffer.
It will be recalled that in 1901, at the London Congress
on Tuberculosis, Professor Koch made the important announcement
that in his opinion human tuberculosis differs
from bovine, and cannot be transmitted to cattle, and that
bovine tuberculosis was scarcely, if at all, transmissible to
man. This statement, emanating from such an authority, came
as an intense surprise to many other workers in the same field
of research, and as a result of the wide difference of opinion
revealed, Special Commissions of enquiry were instituted in
this country and abroad. The terms of reference of the
Royal Commission appointed in Great Britain were precise in
all important details. Interim reports were issued in 1904,
1907, and 1909. The Final Report issued in the early part
of 1911 concluded that Bovine and Human Tubercle Bacilli